Page 27 of Sweet Wicked Vows
“Would you care for some coffee, Mr. Dade?” Poppy asked. “Or I can whip you up a morning smoothie. I brought strawberries, bananas, and kiwis. It’s one of Evie’s favorites.”
“What the hell is that?” Jaxon asked from the doorway.
“A smoothie?” I frowned. “You know fruit, milk, some ice, and then you blend it all together until it becomes one big liquid.”
His brow fell, his jaw clicking into place. “Merci,for your kind explanation. But I’m fully aware what a smoothie is,douceur.I meant, what the hell is that?” He pointed to Flynn stroking a bundle of purring gray fur.
“Oh, that’s Bell,” I said. “She’s my cat.”
“A cat,” he repeated in horror.
“It’s the opposite of a dog.” I smiled extra sweetly at him.
“She’s had the thing for years, pretty sure it’s nearly as old as me at this point.” Flynn yawned. “Didn’t she tell you she had a cat?”
Our eyes met.
You promised Jaxon, you promised to play along while we were in the presence of others.
“She did. I only thought that the creature was staying with you at your home.” He stared at Bell as if she were a mountain lion ready to pounce. “You know, with my allergies to animals, I thought we said it would be wise to keep it there.”
Not it. Her.
“Maybe it would be best if you took the cat back with you,” Jaxon said to Flynn.
I bit the inside of my mouth. “It’s not like she will be in bed sleeping with you. We will get you some antihistamines and you’ll be more thancapableof living with a cat.”
His nostrils flared.
Right on cue, Bell jumped down from the kitchen table and made a beeline for the French scowling man. If only I had my phone handy, I would have snapped the sheer horror on Jaxon’s face as Bell rubbed herself along his ankles.
“What’s it doing?” Jaxon asked stiffly. “Why is it doing that?”
“Oh, how sweet,” Poppy smiled. “That just means she likes you.”
Jaxon’s spine was straighter than an arrow, his shoulders pushed back, and I feared his back teeth were at risk of shattering.
It was downright hilarious.
Not bothering to hide my delight, I scooped my fur baby into my arms and nuzzled my head against hers. “Who’s momma’s good girl? That’s right, you are.”
Poppy hummed around the kitchen, the faint scent of bread baking in the oven started to fill the room. A pang echoedthrough my chest. It smelt like home. Home with my dad.
Soon, there’d no longer be a home with him in it.
Holding onto Bell tighter, I tried to push the sorrow crawling its way up my throat by thinking of the weeks ahead. The party being the first thing that needed sorted, especially if Dad wanted to attend.
“Are you busy today?” I turned to Jaxon.
He’d finally breached the threshold of the doorway and was watching Poppy with bewildered fascination. She was blissfully unaware, twirling around the kitchen to her own beat, and acting as if she’d always been there.
“I have several meetings,” he said. “I’ll be here for most of the day doing them virtually, but there is one I have to be present for.”
I set Bell down. “You’re flying back to Canada?”
He shook his head. “My brother hasgraciouslyagreed to rearrange the meeting and have it here in New York.”
No amount of warmth could have melted through Jaxon’s icy tone when talking about his brother. I didn’t know a lot about the two brothers’ relationship. They never attended events together with Jaxon very much being in the background.